NEW YORK – The seeds and schedule have been set for the 2014 BIG EAST Men’s and Women’s Tennis Championships presented by NEW YORK LIFE, to take place at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, N.Y., beginning Thursday.

Seeds are determined by a committee that reviews each team’s regular-season schedule, ITA rankings, results against BIG EAST and common non-conference opponents and wins and losses against ranked foes.

The DePaul women earned the No. 1 seed on the women’s side, while St. John’s was named the top men’s seed.

In the women’s tournament, the seventh seed will take on No. 10 and the eighth-seeded squad will battle No. 9 in first round matches Thursday beginning at 10 a.m. Providence will match up with Villanova in the 8/9 showdown while Creighton, the No. 7 seed, takes on No. 10 Butler.

The Providence-Villanova winner advances to Friday’s quarterfinals against the top-seeded Blue Demons, and the Creighton-Butler winner will get Marquette, which the committee named the women’s No. 2 seed.

With eight teams competing on the men’s side, action in that bracket begins with Friday’s quarterfinals. The top-seeded Johnnies open with No. 8 Villanova, while Marquette, which garnered the men’s second seed as well, will battle No. 7 Creighton. The third seed went to DePaul, which squares off with Georgetown, the sixth seed, in Friday’s quarterfinal round, while a pair of newcomers will square off in No. 4 Xavier and fifth-seeded Butler.

Xavier earned the third seed on the women’s side and will take on No. 6 seed Seton Hall in Friday’s quarters, while No. 4 St. John’s is scheduled to battle fifth-seeded Georgetown.

Friday’s quarterfinal winners will advance to Saturday’s semifinal round in both brackets. There will also be consolation matches that can be moved indoors.